But to some Europeans, the United States still appears to be taking baby steps.

Andreas Carlgren, the Swedish minister for the environment, told journalists on Friday in Brussels that passage of the Waxman-Markey bill would be significant, but added that American emissions-reduction targets still risked falling far short of what would be needed to reach a global deal at United Nations negotiations in December in Copenhagen.

“We expect more, we demand more,” he said of the European position toward wealthy countries — including the United States — and emissions reduction. “We need the right global targets and objectives for the long term in line with science,” he said, adding that such targets were needed to apply “the right pressure to make sure we have sufficient emissions reductions.”

Mr. Carlgren has become a significant player in global climate talks as the Swedish government prepares to take over the revolving presidency of the European Union until December, when nations gather in Copenhagen with the aim of agreeing on a new United Nations climate pact.

Mr. Carlgren said an offer by Europeans to reduce greenhouse gases by 30 percent over 1990 levels by 2020 was the E.U.’s main “tool to put pressure on other parties in the world.” Other nations should “follow us up to more ambitious targets,” he said.

Under the Waxman-Markey bill, the United States would reduce emissions by about 4 percent over 1990 levels over the same time period — considerably less than the Europeans have pledged.

Analysts have noted that nearly all of the American cuts in emissions could be in the form of “offsets” from overseas.

The focus of the Europeans on persuading rich-world countries like the United States to accept strict targets was underlined Friday by Stavros Dimas, the E.U. commissioner for environment. According to the European Voice, a weekly newspaper, Mr. Dimas said the world may need to pledge to limit the rise in global temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius prevent runaway climate change.

These temperature targets, like emissions reductions targets, have become hotly contested territory for climate negotiators.

Again why won’t anyone recognize the needless reemitting of GHGs that we allow to happen with our present handling of the massive ever-expanding messes of organic wastes and sewage solids. By using the pyrolysis process on those messes, we can make them into a resource in getting control of more than just global warming as making charcoal means not only removing some carbon from being reemitted, but also means removing energy if the process can be fueled by renewable energy. You can get more details by searching my name of this blog and find the many benefits, especially reducing water pollution, that pyrolysis of those messes will achieve.
We better wake up to the energy overload being a bigger factor than GHGs as a New Scientist posting June 21 online environment section about a paper predicting an 80 ft ocean level rise by 4,000 AD indicated that the rise will be occurring from the momentum of increasing energy overload that no environmental group recognizes as yet. That means to get control we have to stop burning fossil fuels and nuclear reactors as they are releasing new energy into the biosphere. We need to get to total renewable energy and stop all subsidizing of nuclear and fossil fuel programs to get the money into renewable energy.
This means expanding windmill generated electricity, expanding solar collection of energy with perhaps also just reflecting some, and getting the development of catalyst(s), seven have been reported over the last 2 years, for splitting water with sunlight energy. Also the pyrolysis process can get some fuel and electricity from those messes that we allow to biodegrade to reemit GHGs needlessly. Bioethanol should not be subsidized either as it usurps too much land and especially water needed for food production and runs the risk of wipe-out plague along the lines of the Irish Potato Famine.
The momentum of the energy overload is snowballing to bury our descendants if we do not take actions to get totally switched over to renewable energy in a few years.
Dr. J. Singmaster

Given the compromises built in to the climate bill that just passed the House, and faces a bumpy ride in the Senate, I’m starting to get the uneasy feeling that if we leave it up to Congress to pass laws to deal with climate change, we’re dead.

Americans would like our congress to do better too!!! But they are way behind the public as polls show.

Facts are we can have a lower cost energy future, which is what the fossil fuel lobby is worried about and many of our congress is bought and paid for by them, along with CO2 reduction.

Now with our huge fossil fuel subsidies RE in the form of solar thermal, wind is already competitive with a new coal plant and would be way cheaper if the real cost of coal was in it.

Same with oil. Even now EV’s are cheaper to run than gas cars just no car companies makes them for us as they are simple needing little aftermarket service, parts where they make most of their profits.

I and many other have built our own and they work fine. Heck in 1911 Baker Electrics went 110 miles and some like Jay Leno’s still use the original NiFE Edison batteries! It’s not like we don’t know how, just a lack of big auto to do it. But that’s changing and in 5 yrs EV’s will be inexpensive.

Americans would like our congress to do better too!!! But they are way behind the public as polls show.

Facts are we can have a lower cost energy future, which is what the fossil fuel lobby is worried about and many of our congress is bought and paid for by them, along with CO2 reduction.

Now with our huge fossil fuel subsidies RE in the form of solar thermal, wind is already competitive with a new coal plant and would be way cheaper if the real cost of coal was in it.

Same with oil. Even now EV’s are cheaper to run than gas cars just no car companies makes them for us as they are simple needing little aftermarket service, parts where they make most of their profits.

I and many other have built our own and they work fine. Heck in 1911 Baker Electrics went 110 miles and some like Jay Leno’s still use the original NiFE Edison batteries! It’s not like we don’t know how, just a lack of big auto to do it. But that’s changing and in 5 yrs EV’s will be inexpensive.
Oops…forgot to say great post! Looking forward to your next one.

What's Next

About

How are climate change, scarcer resources, population growth and other challenges reshaping society? From science to business to politics to living, our reporters track the high-stakes pursuit of a greener globe in a dialogue with experts and readers.